A blog by a werewolf. Topics include werewolves, fantasy and horror fiction, therianthropy, spirituality, myths and legends, some reviews, cryptids, the unknown, wild animals and science. IMPORTANT note: This blog uses cookies.

Divider

Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Cu Sidhe

Cu Sidhe is a name of a species of mythical dog that features in ancient Celtic folklore. This dog is supernatural and belongs to the faery realm, otherwise nicknamed "Fairy Hound". Cu Sidhe is an ancient name of the legendary Black Dog seen throughout the British Isles. In Scotland, the dog is called Cu Sith. In parts of Wales it's called Cwn Annwn.

In folklore, Cu Sidhe is wolflike in appearance. Some people have suggested the mystical dogs are entirely red. In Scotland the mystical wolf is known to appear a green colour. Some legends in other places have Cu Sidhe looking like a white wolf or a very huge greyhound with a coiled tail.

People in ancient times believed Cu Sidhe was a demon dog who dragged souls away into the underworld. It seemed like a dog sign of death, for it's loud barks were almost thunderous and sounded off like a warning, to inform anyone of approaching fairies looking to carry infants away. In Welsh mythology, Cwn Annwn belonged to another realm, and emerged on earthside to take part in the Wild Hunt.

Whenever people heard the sound of a Cu Sidhe, it was very loud and chilling. But hearing its barking would also mean someone is about to die. Wherever Cu Sidhe was, fairies were bound to be near. Since this was a dog of the fairies, and back in times past, fairies were not regarded as fanciful, tiny enchanting angelic beings. Fairies were once regarded as sinister human sized people from another dimension, with special paranormal abilities and bringers of death, disease, poisons and famine.

However though, much of ancient tradition, folklore and mythical knowledge was demonised by Christianity. Fairies have so many roots and characteristics and species that it leads back to earlier oral stories of gods and human origins. It doesn't mean that fairies don't exist but the stories themselves were born from some misty time.

Linked with the Cu Sidhe are the Tuatha De Danann, a super human tribe of the gods, the descandants of divine, or ancient kings. The Tuatha kings such as Arawn and King Arthur owned some of the mystical Cu Sidhe dogs. Sacred to these kings and queens of the Tuatha line are sacred sites, diamond geometric shapes, hills and rivers. Beside the great activity and complex mythical histories about the Hill of Tara, it's where Cu Sidhe dogs have been seen also accompanied with their masters. Fae folk, as well as other creatures of myth and legends, are interlinked with ancient pre-christian kings and ancestral gods.

The Cu Sidhe is a transition species that might be actual biological fact, where the wolf becomes domestic dog, or how the wolf was domesticated by humans. Far back in time, during the Ice Age, only few people had dogs, and they were kings. But it doesn't mean there isn't a supernatural element to the sightings of spectral dogs and unusual canines, or "werewolves". On earth are secret passages, caves, forests and landscapes hidden by satallite and solar, invisible to the naked human eye, which allows in strange creatures and beings.

The Cu Sidhe is a companion of the fae, dogs of the fairies, and teaches us that there is so much still left unknown.